Blog #4

Reaction to Sophie's World
         Another week has passed and I'm still eagerly awaiting for my questions to be answered. My patience is running thin, and I just want answers. I haven't read any further then the Descartes, Spinoza, and Locke chapters yet. I did like these chapters more than the Renaissance chapter because I thought they were less textbooky. I found Descartes to be the "wisest" of the three I guess. He had a deeper understanding of the world, accepting the fact that we don't know everything. I also found his idea of reason over feeling interesting. It seems so easy and sounds like a smart way to live, but it is by no means easy to ignore all emotions and just act on reason. Our decision making process often gets clouded by our feelings; love, hatred, fear, and so on. Locke's views were very interesting to me also, are our senses reliable? It sort of connects to Descartes views of the mind/body connection.Can we trust how we see things or can our feelings alter the actual image? For example, you may find a person beautiful, not because they are society's definition of beautiful but because of how they make you feel. Another example, people who get drunk and have a bad hangover may not drink that same alcohol for a while, not because of the taste but because of the effects its had on them, how it made them feel. Spinoza I wasn't to interested in, I understand why he thought the bible should be ready deeply, but I think that still leaves so much up to interpretation.

Applying Philosophy to Real Life
         I think Descartes ideas. are still very relevant today. When I was reading about Descartes my immediate connection was to the Full House episode where Michelle has the devil and angel telling her whether or not to play with Uncle Jessie's new expensive music equipment. The angel is your reason, your conscious. Influencing you to do whats right, like doing your homework even though you are tired and wish to just go to bed. The devil represents your impulses. What feels good at the time and has immediate satisfaction, like eating a cupcake even though you're trying to eat healthy. Descartes said we should listen to the "angel", ignore the "devil". The angel will always guide you right, while the devil may bring trouble upon you. I don't think we necessarily do this though, I think there's a pretty equal balance between the two; listening to reason and jumping on impulse.